Fairy’s mouth, which only a second ago had been expertly working against his, now hung open, useless. She blinked rapidly and pointed at him. “Y-you. Wolf.”

Daemon shook his head. But then he followed her finger and looked down at himself.

He was a wolf again, covered in blue fur, and the sparks he’d felt between them were literal sparks, like blue lightning buzzing and zapping all around him. His cloak and other clothes had fallen onto the branches.

“Gods dammit,” he said. “Really? Right now?”

Meanwhile, Fairy was pinching at her tongue, pulling out strands of fur.

If Daemon could possibly feel any hotter, the embarrassment did it. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

She held up a hand. He stopped talking.

She spat out one last piece of fur and started laughing.

“What?” Daemon asked. He failed to see what was funny about this situation.

“Look on the bright side,” Fairy said.

“I can give you a ride to Celestae now?” Daemon grimaced.

“Yep,” she said.

“Other than that, are you completely repulsed that I’m a wolf?” Part of him didn’t want to know the answer.

Fairy shrugged. “I’m only going to kiss the boy version of you. And besides, it’s not like you’re actually an animal. You’re a demigod. And that, like I said before, is very sexy.”

He smiled a little. But it vanished quickly, because he remembered that they only thought he was the missing wolf constellation from the sky. They didn’t know for sure. “What if it turns out I’m not a demigod?”

With that self-doubt, there was a blinding burst of blue light. When Daemon looked down, he was a boy once more. And naked. Again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He grabbed at the cloak and wrapped it around his waist. “Nines, I hate my life.”

“I don’t hate mine,” Fairy said, openly ogling his shirtless torso. “And hey, think of it like this. Now you definitely know that what happened to you during the battle at the Citadel wasn’t a fluke. Turning into an electric wolf twice is no accident.”

Daemon sighed. He made Fairy turn around as he put his clothes back on.

She had a point, though. Transforming into an enormous flying wolf once was like a dream he could be woken from. But twice was the beginning of something real.

“All right, fine, you win,” he said when he was fully dressed. “Maybe I’m a little special. Let’s go summon Vespre. He can settle this once and for all.”

Chapter Twelve

Sora had only ever prayed to the gods inside proper temples, like the black pagoda in the Citadel. Here in Jade Forest, though, they didn’t even have incense sticks to make smoke for carrying their words up to Celestae. She had no idea if this would work.